JOSE P.
RIZAL
Personal Information
June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna
Dec. 30, 1896 at Bagumbayan
EDUCATION
He received his primary education in Biñan,
Laguna under Justiniano Aquino Cruz, and
continued his studies at the Ateneo
Municipal de Manila, where he earned his
Bachelor of Arts degree with highest
honors.
Rizal pursued a degree in medicine at the
University of Santo Tomas.
He transferred to the Universidad Central
de Madrid in Spain to complete his medical
studies due to discrimination against
Filipino students at the University of Santo
Tomas.
In Madrid, Rizal also studied philosophy and
letters at the Universidad Central de
Madrid and attended classes at the
Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando,
where he honed his skills in painting and
sculpture.
Rizal completed his degree in medicine at
the Universidad Central de Madrid in 1882,
becoming the first Filipino to earn a degree
in medicine.
He also studied in Paris and Heidelberg,
where he pursued further studies in
ophthalmology and took courses in various
fields such as languages, culture, and
history.
His full name is José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso
Realonda. Rizal is a shortened form of Spanish word
'second crop'; originated from the word Ricial w/c
literally means 'rice field'. He was a writer, a doctor, a
propagandist, and the National Hero selected by the
Taft Commission in 1901.
FAMILY
BACKGROUND
Father: Francisco Mercado y Chinco
a prosperous landowner, sugar & rice
planter, of Chinese-Filipino descent
[Domingo Lam- co, Rizal's paternal
ancestor is a native of Chinchew district in
China]
Mother: Seodora Alonzo
one of the ost highly-educated woman in the
country during her time, an Ilocano-Tagalog-
Chinese-Spanish descent [Eugenio Ursua,
Rizal's maternal great-great grandfather is
of Japanese ancestry]
Jose was the 7th of 11 children, and younger
of the two boys
Siblings [oldest to youngest]: Saturnina,
Paciano, Narcisa, Olympia, Lucia, Maria,
[Jose], Concepcion (Concha died at the
age of 3), Josefa, Trinidad, and Soledad